I’m currently at college where I have a very fast Internet connection; however at home all I have is a 56k and we don’t have access to anything faster in my area. If I start an account now and then stop my subscription over the summer will my character still be on the servers come the fall?

And when he had failed to find these boons in things whose laws are known and measurable, they told him he lacked imagination, and was immature because he preferred dream-illusions to the illusions of our physical creation

Should be. Can I say with certainty? No. However, not deleting characters is the absolute most guaranteed way to ensure that players that left are willing to come back in the future. I don't know that any of the major mmorpgs have ever deleted a character. I know that after 2 years of not playing EQ and then going back to check out all of the new expansions every single one of my characters was still there.

...not deleting characters is the absolute most guaranteed way to ensure that players that left are willing to come back in the future. I don't know that any of the major mmorpgs have ever deleted a character.

FFXI. ;P After three months. After three months they just delete your account-- if you wished to play again, you'd have to purchase a brand new client! Which is probably one of the reasons that I didn't play. It's *certainly* the reason that I couldn't locate a used account.... :?

I can go back and see my Anarchy Online characters even today. It's been at least a year and a half since I've played, if not longer.